STIMULUS TRACKER: Lorain, Elyria, LCCC agree school funds helpful

Local school officials knew they had to make the money last when Lorain County Community College and the Lorain and Elyria school districts received federal stimulus funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The school districts went to work figuring out ways to get the best bang for their buck.

All agree that the money did its job.

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At LCCC, the funds have been used for three specific reasons: to help retrain displaced or laid off workers, to keep tuition the third lowest in the state and to provide financial aid to students who work part-time campus jobs.

The Worker Retraining Program was allocated $263,925 to continue providing training and education for eligible participants who were enrolled in short-term training classes.

"We were able to provide immediate training so people could quickly find meaningful employment again," said Marcia Ballinger, an LCCC vice president. "These people don't have two years to spend in school. They've got families to raise and so forth."

To date, more than 600 students found jobs through a program called Make Your Layoff Payoff.

LCCC also received $4.5 million to keep student tuition low and to maintain other programs and services. These federal funds were used to replace money LCCC previously received from the state, so in effect, they were not additional new funds.

"This enabled us to keep tuition very affordable," Ballinger said. "This year we had a 3 percent raise in tuition and we're still the third lowest (community college tuition) in the state."

Lastly, the college received $39,526 to enhance student financial aid which provides money for the Federal Work Study program. It provides part-time, on-campus employment to eligible students to help them meet their educational expenses.

Lorain City Schools had four pots of money to work with: Title 1, Early Childhood Special Education, Special Education and State Fiscal Stabilization Funds (SFSF). Each pot came with spending guidelines and the majority is used for staff.

"A lot of what we spend is on salaries," Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson said. "This is a human resources business and it takes people to run it."

The district received $3.2 million in Title 1 funds. Most pays salaries, but some has been used for supplies and other purchases. The goal of the money is to keep class sizes as close as possible to a ratio of one teacher per 25 students. These funds cannot be used at the high school level, Atkinson said.

Over two years, the district has used more than $4 million to keep kindergarten teachers, safety officers and media clerks/librarians with SFSF money. It comes to the district on an annual basis and Atkinson said there's no way of knowing how much the district will get until it arrives.

Combined, the district received $2.39 million for school-age and preschool special education children. It pays for teacher salaries and benefits, professional teacher conferences, substitute teachers, contracts with Murray Ridge and supplies.

None of the district's stimulus money could be used toward any type of construction or renovation.

Elyria's school district has used $1.5 million to focus on raising the achievement scores of elementary students and to maintain as many elementary teachers as possible through Title 1 funding.

"We also implemented Progress Book, which is an online report card that parents can check daily," said Ann Schloss, director of teaching and learning. "That's huge for parent involvement and communication between teachers and parents and parents and students."

The district got more than $2 million to help students with disabilities. Of that, 44 percent was spent to maintain and hire teachers, intervention specialists and related services staff for students who qualify for an extended school year, according to Dawn McCready, director of special education.

Another 42 percent went to a bullying prevention program in two targeted buildings, to training for teachers and paraprofessionals who work with students with autism, to sign language interpreters and personal nurses, McCready said. A small portion was used for transportation for field trips and teacher travel to educational conferences.

The Elyria district got $1.8 million for general fund operating expenses, said Treasurer Fred Stephens. "The money did what it was supposed to do," Stephens said. "It had a good effect with us. Those folks (maintained teachers) would have been out on the streets without it. They're the youngest, brightest ones we recruited. They're our future."

Schloss agreed.

"We put a lot of time and effort into training them," she said. "To lose them would have been a bad thing."

Lorain, Elyria and LCCC school officials all agreed that the money was beneficial. They also understood that the money would only last for two years, so they all planned ahead and rationed the money.

In Lorain, Atkinson said, "We have to report the number of jobs we saved quarterly. So yes, I think it did what it was supposed to. It also allowed us to keep programming because we had people and the graduation rate to go up because we were able to provide extra support via staff."

Elyria's Stephens said, "We spent according to the guidelines with the knowledge that the money would be gone in two years. We've shaved over 200 staff in the last five years. We tried to help the general fund wherever possible."

Schloss added, "Because we've been so fiscally responsible, it was easy to see how we should spend it."

LCCC's Ballinger said if not for the stimulus money, tuition could have skyrocketed.

"We were able to keep tuition affordable," she said. "Without it, the state would have allowed a higher increase. This way, we were able to benefit 16,000 students."